Researchers have discovered that
critical cell receptors are damaged in people who suffer from chronic fatigue,
reports Daniel Horsley.

Carly Tomlinson spent more than
18 months lying in bed after being diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis
(ME), more commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), in 2012.

“It makes you feel as though you
have the flu every single day – sore throat, headaches, fevers, aching body,
inability to think, sensitivity to light and noise – all that jazz,” the
24-year-old East Bentleigh woman said.

While she is now back and working
at a tea shop 10 hours a week, Ms Tomlinson still takes between 14 and 22
tablets daily. She needs two tablets of one of these medications, imported from
Germany, every four hours to prevent her from fainting.

“[Chronic fatigue] weakened my
body more than I ever saw coming,” she said.

Ms Tomlinson also developed four
separate heart conditions, was unable to digest dairy and gluten and needed to
start wearing glasses.

ME affects between 100,000 to
250,000 people in Australia, leaving around 25 per cent of them bed-bound.
Experts say it is a nightmare to diagnose because it has a range of about 50
different symptoms, of which 20 occur in about 70 per cent of patients.

It is a disorder that has no cure
and its cause is still largely unknown. It triggers a range of conditions
including long-term fatigue, and muscle and joint pain as well as damage to the
cardiovascular and digestive systems.

But now researchers may have
found a key to explain why chronic fatigue syndrome can wreak such havoc on the
body.

Scientists at Queensland’s
Griffith University have discovered that critical cell receptors that help
regulate human cells can be damaged by an infection or severe physical or
psychological trauma.

There are many different kinds of
receptors found throughout cells that help them function normally. It is common
for receptors to make harmless, tiny changes to the cell, known as
polymorphisms.

But in people with ME the damage
is done to the so-called “threat receptors” which, like white blood cells, deal
with potential attacks to the body.

While the researchers are yet to
discover if this damage to the cell receptors causes either a loss or an
increase in function, they do know that because these receptors are connected
throughout the body any malfunction can cause extensive damage.

Professor Don Staines, the
co-director of Griffith University’s National Centre for Neuroimmunology and
Emerging Diseases, said the next step is to find out “why this happens to some
people and not others”.

Dr Staines, who is the head of a
ME research team, said the term “chronic fatigue” is hated throughout the
medical profession.

Although it’s known as chronic
fatigue syndrome, he said fatigue is an unfortunate word because it trivialises
the severity of the condition. He said the word fatigue is better applied to
the slow recovery time.

Dr Staines said the formal name
of the illness, myalgic encephalomyelitis is far more accurate because in
medical terms it relates specifically to brain and spinal cord inflammation
with associated muscle pain.

But as frustrating as Dr Staines
finds chronic fatigue to be as a medical term, Ms Tomlinson is weary dealing
daily with people’s assumptions about her condition.

“If one more person says to me
‘Oh, so I guess you’re just really tired then, that’s all?’, I really might
crack it.”

About Me

I am a Christian, saved by grace alone through faith alone. I have had the neuroimmune disorder ME, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, since 1991. From North Somerset, now in N. Ireland. Please see my website for further information about ME.